Batman Forms His Own Suicide Squad in Upcoming Comic

Batman has been dealing with two new superheroes in Gotham, becoming a mentor to them in the process. However, Batman's next task will be to recruit a team of former villains,--his own Suicide Squad--to deal with a new threat, this fall.

During an interview at San Diego Comic-Con, Batman writer Tom King revealed a little bit about what's ahead for the Dark Knight in November's issue #9 after the crossover story "Night of the Monster Men."

"The first arc [in issue #9] is 'I Am Gotham.' It's a trilogy of arcs," King told GameSpot. "The second, which is sort of Empire Strikes Back, is called 'I Am Suicide.' John Ostrander's Suicide Squad--I think--is the best superhero comic ever written, in mainstream comics."

Ostrander's legendary run on Suicide Squad began in 1987 and ran 66 issues, ending in 1992. It's widely considered to be the best series based around the team.

"When I first got Batman, that's what I wanted to do. We're doing Batman and the Suicide Squad. Batman walks into Arkham Asylum and picks out a team of villains to accomplish an impossible task. That's what the second arc is."

King is passionate about working on this new volume of the Dark Knight. He has already made numerous nods to important moments in the character's life: "Can you tell I'm eager to write Batman? I've done a Gordon on the roof scene. I did a clock at 10:48 scene. I did a Matches Malone scene."

King's excitement for writing reaches into his other work at Vertigo and Marvel as well. "I love this story, and I love how fun it is, but when I write Vision, when I write Sheriff [of Bablyon], when I write Omega Men, I'm just as excited. To me, the person who buys Omega Men for $3 deserves exactly the same commitment as the person who buys Batman. Every issue I write I want to put that amount of passion into it."

Batman chooses his own Suicide Squad in November with issue #9.